Coronavirus prep

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  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Unfortunately, testing numbers have also gone down, so I don't think we are going to get good data on case numbers, which is a shame.

    Positivity rate has gone way, way down, though. I mostly follow it locally, but I believe that's true across the country. So I'm not bothered that the numbers are not reflecting the reality -- if that were true the positivity rate would be high, like it was back in March '20 when people had a hard time getting tested.
    In my area, the hospitalization and ICU numbers are also continuing to improve even as more things open up.
    Likewise, the # of tests and positivity rate have also continued their downward trend, and the positivity rate is currently under 1%.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    Interesting change in vaccine advice - for Australia anyway.

    Interval between Covid vaccine and any other vaccine was 14 days either side.

    Has now been reduced to 7 and in exceptional circumstances can be given in under this.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    An article in today's small town newspaper told about a couple who contracted Covid, after having been fully vaccinated. The wife had head cold symptoms and felt better in a couple days. The husband, however, is immune compromised and was very sick with it; a month in and he still feels very fatigued. I can only imagine if he hadn't been vaccinated, he might very well have died contracting Covid. :( However, the part of the article that left me scratching my head was it wasn't until his 4th test that he received a positive result??? I can see first or maybe even second test with positive not showing up. But he was clearly sick and had clearly been exposed. How many people are going to be persistent enough to test 4x, especially if a person is lucky enough to not feel very sick??

    There is so much that is still unknown in all of this. :(
    Piggy backing on that, in our area (per my husband’s HR mgr) they aren’t even testing if you have been vaccinated, even with active symptoms, which sounds like a really bad idea… and data wise it frustrates me.

    I agree that that's unfortunate.

    One of my friends, fully vaccinated 65+, now believes she has Covid (fever, cough, wheezing, no smell/taste). Her doctor's immediate advice was for her to be tested for it. (Haven't heard the test result yet, so I'm not offering this as a "people who are vaccinated getting Covid" story (yet); I'm sharing it because it illustrates that the practices for testing Covid-suspect people post-vax may differ by area or even by doctor.)
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,297 Member
    Here in the UK it was being said that one of the available vaccines, I don't remember which one, 80% reliable. This is way more reliable than the flue vaccine has been quoted to be in the past. So there is still a slight risk that someone who has been vaccinated will come down with covid But, having the antibodies already they will not become as ill as they might otherwise become, its highly unlikely they will need to go to hospital for instance. Where as someone who has not been vaccinated will still have the same likelihood of needing hospital care and face the ultimate price for not being vaccinated. Thankfully any deaths which are reported here are few, still too many but with deepest sympathy to the families, these are persons who rejected the vaccine.

    Here we are having a battle with what is now called the delta variant. Our local numbers testing positive for the thing are up by 1/3 over last week and more over the previous weeks. Some are still talking about opening up everything on the 21st others are saying more care is needed. My hope is there are fewer who are left with long covid after the vaccination.

    The reason doctors will request testing of someone with symptoms who has household contact is to be certain what it is and this particular case is reflected in the number tally. If tests are not carried out then how can the running totals be correct or as near as possible. It is possible for someone sharing the same household not to have covid even though another member of the household does. It happened in my family, my son and his second son both had it but no one else in the family did. It is much easier for the Delta variant to be transmitted thought.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Interesting change in vaccine advice - for Australia anyway.

    Interval between Covid vaccine and any other vaccine was 14 days either side.

    Has now been reduced to 7 and in exceptional circumstances can be given in under this.

    I don't know if the official advice has changed in the US yet, but I remember on TWiV recently they said that the original 2 week buffer was out of an abundance of caution as there was no data, and at this point they don't see any need. Someone had written in because they were leaving the country, had to get one vaccine before they left, but also wanted to get the covid shot because wherever they were going was having supply issues if I'm remembering correctly. And they advised him to load up.

    I don't know if it applies to covid vaccines, but when I was reading up on vaccine intervals for my shingles shots (which do, or at least did at the time, have an interval recommendation with respect to other vaccines), and wanting to figure out when I could get my seasonal flu shot and a tetanus booster that I needed, I discovered that you could get all on the same day and not have to worry about interval spacing. My recollection was that this was a general recommendation (I believe I was on the CDC site) for any vaccinations that require an interval before getting a different vaccine (not all vaccines require an interval -- my recollection is that it wouldn't have been an issue if it had just been the flu shot and the tetanus booster).

    Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor and all of the above is based on stuff I read nearly a year ago, so my memory could be off on details, although I'm confident on my main point about same-day vaccination being an option in lieu of interval spacing.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,023 Member
    amart4224 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    amart4224 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    An article in today's small town newspaper told about a couple who contracted Covid, after having been fully vaccinated. The wife had head cold symptoms and felt better in a couple days. The husband, however, is immune compromised and was very sick with it; a month in and he still feels very fatigued. I can only imagine if he hadn't been vaccinated, he might very well have died contracting Covid. :( However, the part of the article that left me scratching my head was it wasn't until his 4th test that he received a positive result??? I can see first or maybe even second test with positive not showing up. But he was clearly sick and had clearly been exposed. How many people are going to be persistent enough to test 4x, especially if a person is lucky enough to not feel very sick??

    There is so much that is still unknown in all of this. :(

    This kind of thing makes me wonder how many other illnesses he was tested for. If he was already vaccinated for COVID and had 3 negative COVID tests... maybe consider the possibility that he has flu, pneumonia, any other variety of illness with similar symptoms? Other diseases don't just disappear, and it seems irresponsible to only be testing for the "popular" one.

    I'm not sure I understand why he wouldn't be tested for Covid? And he did end up testing positive the 4th time. His wife had it and had tested positive so he knew he'd been in contact. I know of another case where one of the family members tested positive, was having symptoms then 2 more family members started having symptoms yet tested negative even after being tested more than once each. They never showed a positive test despite living with the infected person and having very similar symptoms.
    IOW I don't believe the tests to be so accurate that we should base all our answers/reactions on them. :)

    I guess I don't understand the purpose of testing for COVID if you're completely sure you have it and no amount of negative test results will convince you otherwise. Why waste resources and time running test after test, if you will only trust a positive result?

    I can't imagine going to a doctor with a sore throat, being tested for strep, getting a negative result, and having the doctor say "well we'll just keep testing for strep until we get a positive." They would probably move on to other possible causes of my sore throat.

    You're assuming he wasn't also being continually tested for other conditions as well?

    I don't believe it's unusual if someone is ill and not getting better, to get multiple tests until a result is achieved or they recover fully. I'm thinking specifically of autoimmune conditions (like Lymes) where it takes multiple tests over months and sometimes years. A tested diagnosis may affect insurance status too.

    Determining why someone is ill may not directly affect the patient being tested (assuming they recover on their own regardless) but it is the type of data public health officials need to determine risk and spread.

    Considering how new COVID-19 is, I think finding and documenting every case we can is super important to helping us understand it, get it completely under control, and be better prepared for the next pandemic. They are still learning new things about it all the time, including the best ways to test for it.